all this as many americans stand in hours-long lines just to get a test. jonathan serrie is in atlanta, home of the cdc. jonathan, how concerned are federal officials about the spread of the omicron variant? hi, mike. they are very concerned about this new variant because they say it spreads more rapidly than any of the previous variants in this particular pandemic. it has now been confirmed in at least 46 states as of today. but they do have tools to fight it. moderna released new data today showing its current booster shot produces a 37-fold increase in omicron-neutralizing antibodies, and doubling the authorized dose increased antibody levels by 83 times. earlier this month, pfizer released data showing three doses of it vaccine were effective against omicron. drugmakers regeneron and eli lilly say lab tests show their antibody drug treatments will be less effective against
that was the message from chris whitty last week, and it was really very clear. you know, you need to make the priorities. and most people are pretty smart and pretty sensible about doing that. us pharmaceutical company moderna have said that a booster dose of its covid 19 vaccine appeared to be protective against the omicron variant in laboratory testing. their research shows that a 50 microgram booster dose which is standardly given in the uk increased neutralizing antibodies against the variant 37 fold. a higher, 100 microgram booster dose of the same vaccine drove antibody levels even higher. the company also says it plans to develop a vaccine specifically to protect against omicron, which it hopes to advance into a new covid drug designed to reduce the risk of vulnerable patients
A new study reports the results of a study focused on immune evasion characteristics, specifically the ability to escape neutralization by antibodies to the earlier SARS-CoV-2 variants or to the spike antigen used in COVID-19 vaccines.
"The antibodies that people make after they get the standard two inoculations of the Moderna mRNA vaccines are 50 times less effective against Omicron than they are against the original form of the virus."
Researchers from Hong Kong found that the BNT162b2 Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is less effective against the B11529 omicron strain. They found that the new variant reduced the mRNA [.]